Richard St. John: "Success is a continuous journey"

Translator: Kian Conteh Reviewer: Peter Brodersen

Why do so many people reach success and then fail?

Hvorfor opnår så mange mennesker succes, hvorefter de fejler?

One of the big reasons is, we think success is a one-way street.

En af de vigtige årsager er, at vi tænker på succes som om det er en ensrettet gade.

So we do everything that leads up to success,

Vi gør alle de ting, der fører til succes.

but then we get there. We figure we've made it,

Men så får vi det. Vi tror vi har klaret det,

we sit back in our comfort zone,

så læner vi os tilbage i magelighed,

and we actually stop doing everything that made us successful.

og vi holder med at gøre alle de ting, der gav os succes.

And it doesn't take long to go downhill.

Og tilbagegang tager ikke lang tid.

And I can tell you this happens,

Jeg kan sige jer, at det sker.

because it happened to me.

For det skete for mig.

Reaching success, I worked hard, I pushed myself.

For at få succes arbejdede jeg hårdt. Jeg pressede mig selv.

But then I stopped, because I figured, "Oh, you know, I made it.

Men så holdt jeg op, for jeg tænkte "Så nu klarede jeg det.

I can just sit back and relax."

Jeg kan læne mig tilbage og slappe af."

Reaching success, I always tried to improve and do good work.

På vejen til succes prøvede jeg altid at forbedre mig og lave et godt stykke arbejde.

But then I stopped because I figured, "Hey, I'm good enough.

Men så stoppede jeg fordi jeg tænkte "Hey, jeg er god nok.

I don't need to improve any more."

Jeg behøver ikke forbedre mig mere."

Reaching success, I was pretty good at coming up with good ideas.

På vej til succes var jeg ret god til at komme på nye ideer.

Because I did all these simple things that led to ideas.

Fordi jeg gjorde alle disse simple ting, som ledte mig til ideerne.

But then I stopped, because I figured I was this hot-shot guy

Men så stoppede jeg. Jeg tænkte, at jeg var denne store mand

and I shouldn't have to work at ideas, they should just come like magic.

og jeg behøvede ikke arbejde for at få ideerne. De burde bare komme på magisk vis.

And the only thing that came was creative block.

Og det eneste der kom var en kreativ blokade.

I couldn't come up with any ideas.

Jeg kunne ikke komme på nogen ideer.

Reaching success, I always focused on clients and projects,

På vejen til succes fokuserede jeg altid på kunder og projekterne

and ignored the money. Then all this money started pouring in.

og ignorerede pengene. Så begyndte pengene at strømme ind.

And I got distracted by it.

Jeg blev distraheret af det.

And suddenly I was on the phone to my stockbroker and my real estate agent,

Og pludselig talte jeg i telefon med min aktiehandler og min ejendomsmægler,

when I should have been talking to my clients.

når jeg burde have talt med mine kunder.

And reaching success, I always did what I loved.

På vejen til succes lavede jeg alt det jeg holdt af.

But then I got into stuff that I didn't love,

Men så begyndte jeg på alt det jeg ikke holdt af,

like management. I am the world's worst manager,

såsom ledelse. Jeg er verdens dårligste leder.

but I figured I should be doing it, because I was, after all,

Men jeg tænkte at jeg burde gøre det. For når det kom til stykket, var jeg

the president of the company.

chef for virksomheden.

Well, soon a black cloud formed over my head

Nå, men snart formede der sig en sort sky over mit hoved

and here I was, outwardly very successful,

og her var jeg. Udadtil meget succesfuld,

but inwardly very depressed.

men inderst inde meget deprimeret.

But I'm a guy; I knew how to fix it.

Men jeg er en mand, og jeg ved hvad man skal gøre.

I bought a fast car.

Jeg købte en hurtig bil.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

It didn't help.

Det virkede ikke.

I was faster but just as depressed.

Jeg var hurtigere, men lige så deprimeret.

So I went to my doctor. I said, "Doc,

Så jeg kontaktede min læge, og sagde "Doktor,

I can buy anything I want. But I'm not happy. I'm depressed.

jeg kan købe alt hvad jeg ønsker. Men jeg er ikke glad. Jeg er deprimeret.

It's true what they say, and I didn't believe it until it happened to me.

Det, de siger, er sandt, og jeg troede ikke på det, før det skete for mig.

But money can't buy happiness."

Penge kan ikke købe lykke."

He said, "No. But it can buy Prozac."

Han sagde, "Nej, men de kan købe Fontex."

And he put me on anti-depressants.

Så han gav mig antidepressiv medicin.

And yeah, the black cloud faded a little bit, but so did all the work,

Og den sorte sky blegnede en lille smule. Men det gjorde arbejdet også.

because I was just floating along. I couldn't care less if clients ever called.

Jeg sejlede bare af sted. Jeg kunne ikke være mere ligeglad med om kunderne ringede.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And clients didn't call.

Og kunderne ringede ikke.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Because they could see I was no longer serving them,

For de kunne se at jeg ikke længere arbejdede for dem.

I was only serving myself.

Jeg arbejdede kun med mig selv.

So they took their money and their projects to others who would serve them better.

Så de tog deres penge og deres projekter og gav dem til andre, der ville arbejde for dem.

Well, it didn't take long for business to drop like a rock.

Nå, men det tog ikke lang tid, før forretningen faldt som en sten.

My partner and I, Thom, we had to let all our employees go.

Min partner og jeg, Thom, blev nødt til at fyre vores medarbejdere.

It was down to just the two of us, and we were about to go under.

Der endte med kun at være os to tilbage, og vi var lige ved at måtte lukke.

And that was great.

Og det var fantastisk.

Because with no employees, there was nobody for me to manage.

For uden nogen ansatte var der ingen jeg skulle lede.

So I went back to doing the projects I loved.

Så jeg vendte tilbage til de projekter, jeg elskede.

I had fun again, I worked harder and, to cut a long story short,

Jeg havde det sjovt igen. Jeg arbejdede hårdere. Og for at gøre historien kort,

did all the things that took me back up to success.

gjorde jeg alle de ting, der gjorde mig til en succes igen.

But it wasn't a quick trip.

Men det var ikke nogen hurtig tur.

It took seven years.

Det tog syv år.

But in the end, business grew bigger than ever.

Men til sidst blev forretningen større end nogensinde.

And when I went back to following these eight principles,

Da jeg vendte tilbage til de disse otte principper,

the black cloud over my head disappeared altogether.

forsvandt den sorte sky over mit hoved helt.

And I woke up one day and I said,

Og jeg vågnede en dag og sagde,

"I don't need Prozac anymore."

"Jeg har ikke brug for Fontex mere."

And I threw it away and haven't needed it since.

Jeg smed dem væk, og jeg har ikke haft brug for dem siden.

I learned that success isn't a one-way street.

Jeg lærte at succes ikke er en ensrettet gade.

It doesn't look like this; it really looks more like this.

Det ser ikke sådan ud. Det ser mere sådan her ud.

It's a continuous journey.

Det er en evig rejse.

And if we want to avoid "success-to-failure-syndrome,"

Og hvis vi vil undgå "succes til fald-syndromet"

we just keep following these eight principles,

Så skal vi bare følge disse otte principper.

because that is not only how we achieve success,

For det handler ikke kun om, hvordan vi opnår succes,

it's how we sustain it.

men også hvordan vi bevarer den.

So here is to your continued success.

Held og lykke med jeres evige succes.

Thank you very much.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)